Consumers in North-western Province should make energy serving habitual in their work places and households with or without load shedding, says Zesco regional manager Alex Mbumba.

He said consumers should develop saving attitudes which could go a long way in lifting the pressure off the national grid.

Mr Mbumba said there was growing demand for energy across the country which should be used efficiently across the country.

“If a majority of our customers practise good saving habits such as switching off appliances that are not being used pressure can be lifted off the national grid which is currently heavily under pressure,” he said.

Mr Mbumba said switching off lights in rooms that were not occupied and security lights during the day can save energy and avoid unnecessary lighting.

“By using energy wisely, we can produce our products more effectively for our customers and reduce the impact on the environment,” he said

Mr Mbumba said this would go a long way in enhancing Zambia’s economic performance and improving the quality of life of Zambians especially in rural areas and peri-urban.

He said Zesco had various initiatives to implement that encouraged energy efficiency, save money and consequently better the lives of the people.

“Improving energy efficiency has long been advocated as a way to increase the productivity and sustainability of society primarily through the delivery of energy saving bulbs” he said.

He said government has banned the importation of incandescent bulbs in line with SADC’s resolution on energy efficiency and the United Nations Environment Programmes (UNEPS) sustainable energy for all initiative.

“We have adopted the initiative of encouraging the use of energy efficient lights such as Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) Light Emitting Diodes (LED) instead of ordinary bulbs,” he said.

Mr Mbumba said a team of Zesco staff are on the ground distributing energy efficient bulbs door to door to replace conventional bulbs.

He said customers should take advantage of the energy saving bulbs that are being distributed at no cost.

Mr Mbumba said Zesco had under phase three procured one million CFLS at a cost of over US$ 1.5 million and so far 375,030 CFL bulbs had been installed in Lusaka, North-western province and Western province mainly to replace those that failed prematurely and to cover new areas.

He said the initiative under phase three recorded a cumulative saving of 20.92 Mega Watts .